The characters are all at each other’s throats. Donald Trump is behaving like a spoilt mean girl, posting “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on social media, while a crazed gunman is lurking for 12 hours with an AK-47 in the bushes at his Florida golf club, hoping to succeed where an earlier would-be assassin had failed. Switching gears, Trump goes into full Churchillian mode and thunders: “I will NEVER SURRENDER!”
This is a crackpot election. With the outcome uncertain, it would be funny if it were not so sinister. Didn’t Trump’s friend, Tucker Carlson, recently declare that Winston Churchill was no big deal anyway? Carlson, who gave a prime time speech at the Republican convention, proudly interviewed a historian on his internet show who claimed Britain’s greatest statesman was a bigger “villain” than Hitler and touted the world’s weirdest excuse for the Holocaust, that the Nazis killed millions of Jews because they lacked the resources to care for them properly.
Trump is a chaos agent in a world filled with accelerants of his own worst instincts. Take Laura Loomer, the gal pal who has been jetting about on his private plane in Melania’s very obvious absence. Loomer flew with Trump to a commemoration of 9/11 at Ground Zero, despite calling the World Trade Center attacks an “inside job”. In 2022 she was filmed with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, toasting the “hostile takeover of the Republican party”. Then, she was trying and failing to win a Republican primary for a seat in Congress for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago district in Florida. Now that the former president has rall ied to her defence and applauded her “free spirit”, who knows what her next move will be?
This story is from the September 17, 2024 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 17, 2024 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
This industry can be snakey and gross
Teddy Swims on how tackling his demons turned him into a megastar ready to take this weekend's Brits by storm
Our obsession with prizes makes fools of us all
As the Oscars roll into town again, this is why I despair of the whole charade
Hotpants are the hot ticket for the fashion pack as they hit the town
To quote Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones, skirt was very much off sick this London Fashion Week.
Al is on the march in Hollywood — but is there still a plot twist to come?
It's uprooting the way films are made (and viewed) but can it ever produce a classic, asks WILLIAM HOSIE
Seven ways to get the LFW look
Haute hoodies, sharp ties and queenly quilting
Welcome to Wandsworth
It's this year's borough of culture — but loyal locals already know it's the place to be
The problem with mummy and daddy's money
London is now an inheritocracy. It's both golden ticket and gilded cage
The hottest new talent at Somerset House, death and glory at Pitzhanger—and Jeff Koons's country cousin
Collect 2025 Somerset House
Shine on! London's top hairdressers share their secrets for glossy locks
A few summers ago, I tried to grow out my bob and failed miserably, because I didn't just want length, I wanted hair that was an event, a mane, hair that swished. For that, you need not only length but heft, and heft relies heavily on health.
From $6bn to $100m in four years-how did it all unravel for DNA pioneer 23andMe?
The DNA analysis firm 23andMe is a company on the ropes. The one-time leader of the market - valued at $6 billion in 2021 - is now worth less than $100 million, a 99 per cent drop that makes Labour's autumn Budget look like a roaring success.
